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Let's face it. Parents get a bad reputation out there in the softball world...and I believe it's only because of a handful of parents who make the experience tough for everyone around them.

Maybe they're playing "through" their athlete and hoping so bad they don't make the same mistakes they did. Maybe the parent wants it more than their athlete and it's frustrating when they think their daughter is being "lazy". Maybe they're hard to communicate with because they carry their bad day at work with them. 

As a coach, it's tough to do your job when you feel as if every decision you make is going to get judged or criticized, but I wanted to share this with you today to give you encouragement to work on building a culture that doesn't tolerate gossip, but instead believes in the system and has an ecosystem around it that wants to support it. 

Coaches, sometimes the best way to be SEEN as a human and not just a dictator of a team is to show you're human..and the best way to do that is ...

Back when I was in high school I used to go to Notre Dame Softball camps every year…it was the premier softball university within 2 hours of my home and my dad was always set on making sure I was coached by the best. Lizzy Ristano was the hitting coach on staff at the time and she really knew how to throw an epic clinic…she LOVED practice, and every clinic I attended you could tell this was her passion — from teaching us some signature drills the Irish did, throwing us in front of tough machines and live pitching, getting what felt like MILLIONS of reps and even giving us a dog toy to lean how to have better barrel path — I always left their feeling refreshed and eager to take the work I just did into my own practice with dad at home…

Needless to say, Lizzy was a huge reason why I started LOVING the art of the swing and working to become as great as I could at it.

Fast forward to 2019 — an opportunity arrived where I got to coach with Lizzy at Notre Dame as their volunteer assi...

Holy smokes...this 8 week (already!) journey of being a new mom has been an absolute wild one. The best thing I can relate this process to is like the first time you played the game of softball. You weren't good at it AT ALL, but you loved it so much you stuck with it and strove to become as great as you could at it.

That (to me) is MOTHERHOOD.

I'm FAR from great at it, but knowing this tough season is going to make me stronger will make it absolutely worth it in the end. #teamnosleep

I'm learning by the hour, and being thrown challenges from left field, but THANK GOODNESS I had sports to teach me things that have helped prepare me for this journey like:

- Persistence: Not being able to get my baby down the first eight times but trying a new technique and FINALLY getting him down the ninth time -- feels like a win!

- Teamwork: My husband and I sometimes feel like we're BARELY above water, but because we're going through this hard season together has truly made our marriage s...

Here, we go! College softball is almost back in action and I have none other than one of the best college softball reporters in the game, Justin McLeod, here to share some of his predictions of the 2023 season, big match-ups we should be on the lookout for this year, HOW you can watch and track college softball all season long and some “behind the scenes” of some of your favorite college players and coaches!

I’m excited to introduce you to one of my friends in the game who knows just about EVERYTHING going on in the college game before we even do. He stays up late researching and traveling to the best college match-ups so he can be one of the first to report college softball upsets, milestones, moving stories and he’s been doing it for quite some time. 

You may know him (like I originally did) from his articles written by Justin’s World of Softball but now he’s a journalist for Extra Innings and gets to share his stories on their college softball platform and keep us up to date with ...

Have you ever set a goal, got sooo motivated to make it happen at the beginning and then realize after a few weeks you lost the motivation to put in the work??

Same.

I've done some digging to see what the difference is between the people who stay motivated towards their goals and not and the BIGGEST difference I found is that some become COMMITTED to the goal (and we'll get into that in a second) and some are just INTERESTED in it. Here are the biggest differences between the two:

The COMMITTED:

• Have built habits and routines around the work that's required to get there.
• Take action even when they're "not feeling it" that day --because of the bullet point above!
• Don't take "no" for an answer. They see it more as a roadblock they have to find a way to navigate around.
• Are optimistic. Even if they're not seeing the results they want right away, they stick to it because they know there's a light at the end of the tunnel. 
• Are brave. They know the road will be uncomfortable, but
...

Listen now>>>

TODAY, I'M SHARING WITH YOU A FEW OF MY FAVORITE SUBJECTS TO TALK ABOUT!

I've had the pleasure of being coached by a leader in the entrepreneurial space that taught me a practice that has helped me get through some of my toughest days. I know this time around the holidays can be the reason for so much gratitude, but this practice (when it  becomes a habit) will be a great extension of gratitude that will go much further than just you...it will brighten the world around you!

Along with this practice, I've included a snippet of a LIVE Q&A I did on Instagram a few weeks ago talking about a few hitting tips that EVERY hitter experiences and a few drills to help work on fixing a few postural errors we could be making in our swing!

If you’re ready to hone in on the best version of you, and learn a few things you can work on in your off-season training, then this episode is for you! And now, let’s jump right into Episode 64 of When the Cleats Come Off!

SOME QUESTIONS...

We've (Team USA Softball) has lost to Japan in the past two Olympic Gold Medal games and it's about time we talk about WHY!

None other than Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Natasha Watley, is the PERFECT person to ask this question to as she has spent the last 13 years (after her 2008 Silver Medal) playing and now coaching in Japan inside their professional league.

The Japanese culture have mastered these two things:

DISCIPLINE - They practice 6+ hour practices every single day and they treat it as a full-time JOB which it is!

RESPECT - not only do they bow to the field before every practice and game they compete in, they give the most respect to the game by becoming as great as they can be at it. --and THAT is their biggest motivation

Now you may not know this, but teams in Japan are owned by LARGE corporations (like Honda and Toyota which we've all heard of) and their pro teams are a large line item in their budget because their mission is to be able to "breed" the best ath...

Have you ever looked at something, turned your head, and said: "What if I could use that thing to help me hit?!"

It's totally okay if you haven't...

I honestly think it's one of my crazy superpowers. Some of my students call me weird, and honestly, I'd agree with them.

I think my weirdness started when I went to a Notre Dame Softball camp at the age of 10 or 11 and at one of the hitting stations we used something called a "ChuckIt". We were told works on improving your barrel-whip.

In case you're curious and want to look it up, yep, it's a dog's toy. This is what my honest brain said when I picked it up: "How the heck is a DOG TOY supposed to improve my swing?!"

Guys, I was totally proven wrong...

You want your FASTEST part of your swing to (clearly) be at contact, and if you hold the "Chuckit" with one arm, take a swing and the ball "whips" out of the Chuckit at that point (contact) it will go up the middle. At first, I was extending my front arm (left arm and WEAK...